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My wife & I intend to move completely to Spain when I reach retirement age in about 5 years and we intend to sell our UK house to fund this move as we will have no other funds other than some savings.
I have been reading this forum and others for some time as I am researching for the future and, thanks to information that I’ve gleaned I am now absolutely positive that I shall never, ever consider off-plan!

Our areas of interest are the Northern Costa Blanca and the Costa del Azahar although I do keep tabs on other areas too.
My question is how many of the contributors to these pages live in the areas that we are interested?
I have friends in the Gandia area and other contacts that I sometimes hear from but I’ve noticed that many of the contributors to the forum here are in the CSD. We decided that we want to live in a predominantly Spanish area and to be honest most of the coastal CSD, Costa Calida & Southern Costa Blanca does not appeal to us due to the large British population although we do like the coasts.
I’d love to hear from anyone in “our” areas, especially regarding agents & the whole buying process but as new contacts or friends.

Thanks for reading this & I really hope that all of you with problems get them resolved as soon as possible.

High density of Brits ( visited Vera and surrounding area yesterday in my humble opinion it is horrendous beautiful places ruined ) are only found in areas where the new developements ,mainly golf . are. If you avoid these,most of which are advertised constantly in the British media, then you will be surprised how many Spanish enclaves are to be located from CDS to CB.
Hope,like us, you find your dream location living with the Spanish people.

I would suggest looking around Peniscola and Alcossembre near Castellon.
They are both lovely area’s and we reallly liked Peniscola, very Spanish and a very happy feel to it, it had a lovely sea front and still retained a village feel.
We actually live outside of Valencia at the moment, but move further down south next month.
This area is still very Spanish and has some lovely town’s. Canada, L’Eliana are very nice ,and are no more than 25 min’s to the coast, also look at Olocau, it’s very small but has a lot of charm to it ,and again is not too far from the coast or bigger town’s.
If you go further up the coast from Gandia,going north, you will find Cullera, this is also very Spanish and the times we have visited, didn’t seem to be brit soaked!!.
If you would like any further info, please ask.

Regards

Merrymex
Olocau, Valencia

I can suggest a good agent here and also a good independant lawyer if needed

Thanks very much to Melosine & Merrymex for the responses – and apologies for the CSD before – I meant CDS for Costa del Sol not Costa sel Dol! Mind you……..

We were going to Benicassim this year then the holiday got cancelled, ruining our plans to visit right up to Vinaroz & Peniscola etc. where we have some contacts and a great deal of information on the whole area.

It looks really nice up there too – pity, but things got worse as we then went for a Gandia holiday although we had visited the town before then THAT holiday got cancelled! Plans got changed again & now we won’t being meeting-up with friends there now!
We’re going to Marbella now in September!

Can’t say that I’ve really looked at Olacau yet on the net but I’m not sure that my wife would agree if it’s way-inland, despite my trying to tell her that we’ll be far better off inland, property-wise. Still working on that one!

As for agents & lawyers, unless we suddenly come into serious money, that’s a long way off for us yet merrymex but thanks so much for that.
This website has such a friendly feel if you know what I mean!

We bought off plan in a very tiny village 7 miles inland from the coast at Altea. Yes the build time went way over, we had several problems along the way, all resolved eventually and although at the time we said “never again off plan” we are very happy with our property and love the village. Our neighbours are Spanish, there are half a dozen other Brits in the village who all speak Spanish and have been there for years.

The area is beautiful, surrounded by mountains and orange groves yet 15 minutes in the car to the beach. We finally moved in April this year and will retire there permanently next April. There are some beautiful villages in the area so well worth a look around. From Altea, just take any of the inland roads and even if you dont find anywhere to buy, it will make a lovely day out!

Just because its a spanish area doesn’t turn it into shangrila. only have to read other forums to see this. Every pueblo in andalucia has some Brits, sorry but if you want to be amongst the spanish don’t choose anywhere within 40 kilometros of the costas (maybe more) you won’t be pioneers, its all been done before, (and many years ago).

Quite agree Katy but then nowhere on earth is Shangrila. Everywhere has some foreign nationals in residence . However although there are quite a few Brits and other nationalities in our area because we don’t live in purpose built developements we rarely hear a voice or see a person that isn’t Spanish and we live only 9 miles from the coast. And even there it’s 99.99% Spanish.

stevmk2 one reason why we chose this area was because access to everywhere is excellant and if in the future I , in particular , should be on my own I would not feel isolated. Men on their own can still go into bars etc for us girls ,especially those over 39 34 🙄 life takes on a different roll especially in foreign climes.

I think that perhaps I could have worded my original post a little better. replies. Sorry if I upset anyone as it wasn’t my intention.

My dream, like hundreds, if not thousands of others is to find a place to live out my life when I retire. The place I seek I will know when I see it and I shall ensure that it meets all of the criteria that I’m looking for; No.1 being accessability to everything that I and particularly my wife could have need of as we get older and I know that there are no Shangri-las out there.
I don’t want to be surrounded by mostly Northern Europeans so I will be looking at areas that preferrably have a mixture of nationalities but the main population being Spanish.
I know the pitfalls because not only was I not born in England, I have spent many years working and living overseas in places that many would find challenging to put it mildly.
I know what I want and I know it’s in Spain.
stevmk2

Yes, I have and I love some of those fascinating towns like Tortosa, Ulldecona & Amposta in particular but I doubt that I’ll have the time or cash or both to get over there to see them in the near future.
I’ve also got a bit of a problem as my wife wants to be near the coast but I don’t particularly. Working on that one but she’s very head-strong!

I do also worry a bit about being isolated; not necessarily for myself but for my wife as she doesn’t drive so if anything happens to me, she’s stuck if there’s no access to local transport or everything that we need is not reasonably local.
Do you know much about that area? Countryside looks very green from what I’ve seen on the net.
stevmk2

Living close to Gandia (in Oliva which is 7kms away) I can tell you it is a very Spanish Town. The people are friendly, the town hall receptive and it is a big enough place to have everything you need at hand including an excellent hospital.

With regards to your circumstances – if your wife doesnt drive then please do not make the mistake of finding somewhere that she cannot walk to – you will find that she will only drive you back to UK. One other thign you should really learn the language. Not essential inGandia as people do speak a modicum of English – but not enough to be able to speak it fluently – so you need to make the effort (which will be well rewarded)

I am biased towards this area because I live here but apart from the Asturias I dont think there is a greener area in Spain. It is lush green, due in part to having the largest underground reservoir in Spain and a high water table, fantastic beaches with a mountain backdrop with real sand on the beaches and apparently according to the World health Organisation has the healthiest climate in Europe.

Gandia has had a lot of investment into it recently – it is also the nearest beach to Madrid and is very popular with the Spanish. Lots of Madrilenos come here for their Summer holidays. Apart from anything else Gandia is co hosting the Americas Cup with half the teams being based here – the Marina is excellent.

In short it is well worth a visit – go visit your friends there or if not rent a place there for a few weeks – I am sure both you and your wife will love it.

Slightly inland – upto 20 minutes away you can buy an adosado for around 200,000 with lots of space and a garden, a chalet or villa for between 180,000 and 350,000 or a large townhouse for half that price

Give it a go – you will love it.

Good luck

Vince

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